Schoolio...

Disclaimer: This isn't much of a post...  I just wanted to say that my life is crazy at the moment and you shouldn't expect any blog posts!  I already took my final exam for my grad class (Health Care Law), so that class is done, but the rest of my finals are coming up very, very soon.

For anyone who cares, here's my schedule for the next few weeks. 
   Dec. 8th at 8:30am - Pennsylvania Practice exam
   Dec. 10th - Federal Regulatory and Legislative Practice seminar paper due
   Dec. 12th at 1:30pm - Biotechnology Law exam
   Dec. 19th at 8:30am - Family Law exam

I also have a 24-hour take-home final for Copyrights that must be completed before noon on Dec. 12th, so I'll probably work that in soon after my Biotech exam.

Anyway, once all that is over, I get to start my bar review course.  Yipppeee...  Hopefully I'll get to post occasionally, but don't get your hopes up.  :0(

Deck the Halls!

This past Sunday, I had some time to get our house decorated for the holidays!  My parents were over so my dad could help with some projects around the house; my mom decided to help me decorate.  Last year, I decided that I wanted to decorate with a theme of gingerbread so I bought several decorations at the end of the Christmas season and my mom has been getting me a few things here and there this season.  We put out all the decorations we plan to use inside the house, minus the Christmas tree!  So I figured I'd post some pictures of our house all ready for the holidays...

 

Welcome to our home!  We have a cute gingerbread boy and girl in the entryway...

 

We have another gingerbread couple hanging out on  one of the window sills in the living room!

And keeping with the theme, we have another gingerbread couple on the other window sill in the living room...

 

Check out the gingerbread doorknob hanger on the little closet door!

 

Here's a wide angle shot of the living room/dining room dividing area - check out the hanging garland and the mantel (complete with a fire roaring)!

 

This is the window in the dining room (by the foot of the stairs)...  Note the little bear hanging out on the thermostat! ;o)

 

Here's a close-up of the window sill for the dining room window - there's a gingerbread train and two gingerbread ceramic figures (one on each side) that open (not sure what you would put in them though)!

 

A bit closer view of the mantel - we kept the "Kalis" sign and added some gingerbread decorations and some little snow globes.

 

Another angle on the mantel so you can see the dangling-leg gingerbread man hanging out on the bookcase!

 

The wide angle shot into the kitchen so you can see how the gingerbread garland is hanging!

A close-up of the gingerbread garland! The hooks that are all over the house finally have a purpose...

 

The dining room table!  We found the gingerbread runner at Kmart and I just got a plain red tablecloth to go with it.

 

The "hot beverage" station!  I got a gingerbread mug for the spoon rest that came with it and I used the little gingerbread "bucket" to put out hot cocoa and tea bags.

Our kitchen gingerbread people...  With the chef's hat on the boy, I just had to use them in the kitchen!

 

The stove is ready for Christmas: it's got the gingerbread trivet as a spoonrest and the various gingerbread towels!

Even the windowsills in the kitchen got a little festive...

Since the last picture was hard to tell what was on the window sill, I figured I'd give you a close-up: they are actually tiny gingerbread shaped tea lights.

The door to the bathroom is decorated with a snowman hanger because the bathroom follows a different theme - can you guess what it is? ;o)

 

Here's a wide shot of the inside of the bathroom - note the snowman soap dispenser that matches the towel, plus the snowman on the windowsill and on the shelf above the sink.

This snowman is the exception to the blue snowman theme, but he's cute and he fits on the window sill nicely.

Even the toilet got in the spirit - the toilet seat cover is actually fluffy and the scarf sticks up a bit.



 

The upstairs bathroom got some of the straggler decorations - a little "Happy Holidays" puppy on top the shelf and a cute Santa on the back of the toilet.



Turning the Master Bedroom Gray

Aaron and I had really wanted to get the two bedrooms painted before we moved into our house...  Unfortunately, with the closing getting delayed and the furniture that we were refinishing still needing work, we didn't get it done.  However, the terribly ugly orange sponge paint in the bedroom just needed to go...

Here's a reminder of what the master bedroom paint originally looked like...

We bought paint soon after we moved in, but just hadn't gotten around to actually doing the job.  The paint we bought was Glidden's Duo (Paint + Primer); the color was called "Quiet Rain" and we selected it because it was a light gray that still was light and bright, not dull.

Two weekends ago, on Sunday (Nov. 25), Aaron got started turning the bedroom gray...  He taped off the ceiling because the ceiling paint is in good shape and we didn't want to deal with that job! 

I had seen a post on Pinterest about how to paint clean lines so I told him how to do that to make sure the gray doesn't bleed onto the ceiling.  It's really quite simple: 1) Put up your Frogtape or painter's tape on the surface you want to protect. (In our case, the tape went on the ceiling.); 2) Get out the can of paint that matches the surface you want to protect.  (In our case, we got out the can of ceiling paint.); 3) Use a brush to paint in the seam of the tape and wall/area to be painted.  (In our case, we painted the seam/corner so that half the paint ended up on the tape on the ceiling and the other half ended up on the walls to be painted.)  4) Once the paint has dried completely, start painting with your new color in the area you want to change!  (In our case, we waited and then painted the gray on the walls.)  The reason you add that original paint into the seam is because some paint always seeps through and this ensures that the paint that gets past the tape will match the color that you are trying to protect!  Check out the blog where the pin came from: Ask Anna!

Anyway, Aaron followed the instructions from "Ask Anna" and moved onto painting the gray paint onto the walls.  He cut in the edges with an edging tool (it was kind-of like a square sponge - it is meant to give you a clean line but I know it won't work perfectly so we taped anyway) and a paint brush - he would use the edging tool then clean it up with a paint brush since the edging tool would leave excess paint behind. 

Left: Aaron using the edging tool to cut in; Right: Aaron cleaning up the excess paint with the paint brush.

I went up to help him with the rolling.  I learned how to paint properly from my Pop-Pop - you start by making an "M" (or a "W") with the roller, then spreading out the paint from there, being sure to finish with the up-and-down motion to make sure you get a consistent texture on the walls.  (Sorry, no pictures because I haven't perfected the self-photo yet...)  We finished the first coat on late Sunday afternoon but didn't have time to a second coat...

Aaron completed the second coat last Thursday (Nov. 29); he started while I was still at school and finished while I worked on some schoolwork.  Unfortunately, when we looked at the paint, it just looks too blue; I know gray often has a blue hue and the bedding that we are matching has a slight bluish hue, but this paint just looks blue - a very light blue and one might say that the blue has a hint of gray in it, but it just wasn't not the right color.  The photo to the right shows the color after the two coats - it's hard to really see the color in a photo and it all depends on the screen you're looking at, so just take my word for the fact that it looked blue and not gray...

Aaron and I decided to get a new can of paint, figuring that one coat would be enough to fix the color (since it was already one solid color and close to the color we were aiming for).  With that, we headed to Lowe's on Saturday morning...  (We got the first cans of paint from Home Depot; we had picked the best color sample that we could find at Home Depot, after quite some time checking all the swatches, so it was time to give Lowe's a shot!)


We checked out all the various paint swatches that Lowe's had to offer - they mainly carry Olympic paints and Valspar Paints (including a few special "series" of Valspar like the allen + roth colors).  After a careful selection process, the paint swatch we selected was called "Simply Gray" - since the first paint had turned out blue, we figured the name of the paint was a good sign!

The swatch was by Valspar so we went with the Valspar Signature Paint + Primer. (The swatch specifically stated that the color was onlyguaranteed if mixed with Valspar Signature paints, so we made sure to follow the instructions - no more accidentally-blue walls for us!)

 

I took a photo of the two paint swatches.  The original paint (from Home Depot) was the Glidden paint and we got the shade named "Quiet Rain"; the new paint (from Lowe's) is the Valspar paint and we got the shade named "Simply Gray".  The original paint square is on the left and the new paint square is on the right.  I took the picture on the blue kitchen countertops to try to show that the original paint has a blue hint to in, but it didn't work out real well.  Again, the colors get all screwy on the computer (and since I'm just using my phone's camera for the pictures), but you can see a big difference in the samples...  The new paint is quite a bit darker (but not actually dark, just darker in comparison), but we thought that might help make it obvious that it's gray, not blue.

 



Yesterday morning, Aaron and I put a coat of the new paint onto the walls.  Aaron did the cutting in around the edges and I followed behind with the roller.  I paused mid-way to get a picture of the edges done in the new color with the center of the wall in the old paint so that you could see the difference on the wall...

 

The best way to describe the new color is just plain old gray which is what we wanted...  We got the single coat of the new paint on the walls in about an hour and a half.  My parents were coming over to help with some projects, so we got up early and managed to get the painting done just before they came.  We still haven't decided if that single coat will be enough...  We need to get a good look in the daytime so that we can see what it will look like in natural sunlight!  Anyway, check out what it looked like once we had it all painted (in the comparison photos below)...

 

And just for the side-by-side comparison...  The left photo is the original paint and the right photo is the new paint.  As I've said a bunch of times, it's hard to see the difference in the photos, but you can see it a little bit - it's much more obvious in person!

Motion in the Lights

One of the projects from this past weekend was to get motion lights installed at the back of the house.  My dad bought the light fixture and the bulbs as part of our Christmas present.  My dad really did all the work here and I wasn't even helping, so I can't claim any credit here, but still...

My dad had to start by running electric from an outlet in the storage area to the far corner of the storage area where the light would be placed.  He set up an electric box for it and installed the light...  I don't have many details here because I was off doing schoolwork.  Anyway, somehow he went through the wall and siding because the light on (obviously) on the exterior wall of the storage area...  He wired it through a light switch so that we can turn it off it we would like.  Apparently, he initially installed the switch upside-down and was confused as to why the switch was in the "on" position but the light wouldn't come on!  He figured it out, flipped the light switch around, and all was good.

Our New Motion Lights

At first, it was too sensitive and everything was setting it off; in other words, it never seemed to go off.  We lowered the motion detector so it wouldn't detect people or cars in the alley.  However, now it's too low because I can walk almost all the way up to the light (when I park in the alley and walk through the backyard to get to the house) before it comes on.  We still need to adjust it a bit until we find the "happy medium" - we'll get there though!  Aaron also had to fiddle with it to get the dimmer setting turned off; it had been doing this thing where it would turn on for set amount of time, then dim down and stay on for quite a while.  I can see why some people might want that, but, to me, that's a waste of electricity because if there is someone still in the area, the lights would continue to be activated by the motion detector!

Anyway, I'm happy to have the light in, even if we still need to adjust it a bit.  Why did I want motion lights?  Well, I had several reasons...  One reason is for safety and security - they are a deterrent to a theft or vandal.  Another reason is because we park in the alley and had to walk through a dark backyard to get to the house (who knew what you would step in?!).  But the biggest reason is for the dogs - when we let the dogs out to go potty at night, we weren't able to really see them because the yard was dark!  I like to watch the dogs from the windows rather than go out in the cold and you just couldn't see anything at night - now the lights make the yard clearly visible and I can keep an eye on the pups!

While I'm mentioning the motion lights...  We already had motion lights on the side patio; however, one of the lights was burnt out so we replaced that while we were at it...  Anyway, here's some pictures of the existing lights (just in case you care):

The Old/Existing Motion Lights

Exploring the Neighborhood: Trattoria Piatto

Last night, I got to go out to eat at Trattoria Piatto with my LexisNexis boss, Tim, and the other Carlisle representatives, Marisa and Steve.  Tim likes to take us out for dinner whenever someone is leaving - since this is my last semester and Steve will be taking my place in the spring, it was time for a dinner on Lexis!  Usually we go to Cafe Bruges, a Belgian restaurant in town, but Tim wanted to try a new place...  I had heard good things at Piatto and mentioned it, but a small part of me had been looking forward to Bruges...  (Cafe Bruges has a really excellent crab cake sandwich that comes with their homemade tartar sauce; they make all their own condiments so this is homemade tartar sauce made from their homemade mayonaise and its just amazing!  They also have frites which are quite yummy with their homemade ketchup!  Anyway, I digress...)

Well, that small part of me that was hoping for Cafe Bruges was oh so wrong!  My meal at Piatto was the best meal I've had out at a restaurant in a long time... (and I haven't been had bad luck at restaurants lately!) 


Lets start out with the decor...  The restaurant is in an old Victorian townhouse in the historic district of Carlisle.  According to the website, they offer "several intimate dining areas, including fireside dining in the front parlor, an airy conservatory, and an outdoor patio (weather permitting)."  I believe we were in the conservatory area, but it was quite nice inside but slightly intimate.  The lighting was adequate but dim and the tables were small.  It would be a great date spot or special occasion (anniversary, anyone?) table!  However, it wasn't so intimate as to be awkward for our business dinner.  Below are my interior photos...  I used the flash in the left photo which didn't reflect the intimateness of the setting and the right photo shows the intimacy because I left the flash off, but its hard to see much detail...  (Check out the bay windows - I believe that brick wall used to be the exterior wall and the dining area we were in was an addition.)

Moving on to the important stuff... food and drink!  Tim encouraged us to get a drink.  The men got beer and Marisa and I got a rose wine; unfortunately, I have no idea what the exact wine was and I'm no wine expert - I'll just say that I'm not a big wine drinker and I really enjoyed it because it was just sweet enough and mildly fruity. 

Tim also encourages ordering appetizers.  They had a salad on the menu that sounded delicious to me, but Tim usually goes for shareable appetizers...  Even though I didn't order it, I just wanted to mention the salad because I hope to get it next time I go!  The salad was called the Piatto Salad (or, if you'd like to use the long Italian name, it was the Insalata di Pere e Gorgonzola); it consisted of field greens with red wine poached pear, crisp walnuts, and gorgonzola cheese in a pancetta vinaigrette.  The only negative was that it's an appetizer salad and it costs a whopping $9!

On to the appetizers that we actually ordered (my apologies for the lack of pictures here)!  We got two orders if Pane, which is really nothing more than a bread basket ("fresh from the oven"); most places give you the bread for free, but Piatto actually charges you $2 for each basket.  On the bonus, the bread was very good, very fresh, and didn't need butter or olive oil for dipping.  We also got the Sfogliatelle al Parmigiano which were parmesan cheese "crisps" (for $4); these was essentially shredded parmesan that was spread thin and baked into a hard crisp - the rest of the table seemed to enjoy these but I wasn't very impressed and thought it just tasted like almost-burnt cheese.  Finally, we got Frittelle di Granchio which were "crab fritters served with roasted red pepper mayonnaise" (for $9); now these were little bites of heaven!  It was essentially a small crab cake that was battered and fried, sitting on a bed of super-delicious red pepper sauce (it was called a mayonnaise but it was too good to be put in the same category as that jar of stuff you buy from Kraft or Hellman's).  The sauce really made the dish but I could have eaten two plates of these all by myself!

After our appetizers were cleared, we ordered our entrees.  Tim ordered the Fritto Misto ($18) which was a mixed fry of a variety of seafood; he said that it was very good because it was such a light-breading that it didn't take away from the seafood.  Steve ordered the Tagliata di Manzo ($19) which was a grilled sirloin steak, sliced and served with arugula, olive oil, lemona, and parmesan; he seemed to really enjoy it but I didn't get much of a comment from him.  Marisa ordered the Costoletta alla Milanese ($15) which was a turkey cutlet (actually 2 cutlets), breaded with parmesan and bread crumbs and fried; she said that it was really good and very moist.

I ordered the Petto dÁnatra ($21) which was a duck breast, grilled medium rare, served with a mixed berry-balsamic glaze.  All of the dinners were served with polenta and the vegetable of the day; last night the polenta was a grilled parmesan polenta and the vegetable was steamed broccoli.  The duck was perfectly cooked with a nice crispy skin and acidity in the glaze accented it perfectly - best duck I've ever had (my description won't do it justice)!  The polenta was actually quite good as well with a bit of char from the grill adding some flavor and texture.

I cannot rave enough about my dinner!  While $21 for an entree is a little expensive for this area, it was duck which you don't often find around here and it is certainly not something that I could make for myself!  I will just say that I savored every last bite and am still dreaming about that dinner...  Just looking at the picture makes my mouth water all over again!

So after we were filled with delicious food, the waiter asked about dessert and Tim gently insisted (as is his style - we always end up getting dessert).  I was initially intrigued by the Bacio ($8) which was a hazelnut gelato covered with a semi-sweet chocolate glaze...  Then I saw the Tiramisu ($6) and knew that I would have to try that!  (My apologies that the photo didn't turn out better - my flash wasn't working right, so I had to take the photo without the flash and try to brighten it up a bit on the computer.)  Anyway, I made a good choice because the tiramisu was amazing!  The ladyfingers were fully soaked and custardy part (the mascarpone whipped mixture) was light and fluffy and so creamy.  Every tiramisu I've had is always a little different - this time it had a small layer of the ladyfingers with a lot of the whipped mixture and was topped with shaved chocolate.  It was one of the best tiramisus I've ever had!  Tim and Marisa got the bacio and said it was good, but it was a little small for the price...

By the time dinner was over, I was ready to fall into a food coma and I was a happy little camper!  Overall, everything was quite good (except the parmesan crisps, but I wouldn't have ordered them on my own anyway)!  My only complaint would be the cost of the food...  While I wasn't paying anyway, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to pay our bill - it was $166 (before tax) for four people which is a bit pricey to me!  (You could eat cheaper if you skipped drinks, appetizers, or dessert...  Also, there are some smaller plates on the menu as well as $10 pizzas, so it's possible to eat cheaper but the main courses average around $18.)  However, as I said, it'd be great for a special occasion where you're willing to shell out a few extra bucks for a special dinner.  My last note was that our waiter was exceptional - he really knew the menu, described the dishes wonderfully, and sounded like he was well trained (he sounded like a food blogger or chef when he explained the food).  Anyway, I'm certain that I will be back - but only when I'm willing to pay a bit extra for a nice dinner!

Black Friday Madness

As I mentioned before, Aaron and I did some Black Friday shopping.  While some people see Black Friday shopping as crazy, I find it exciting and entertaining.  I don't act like a crazy person, snatching things out of someone's hand, pushing people around, or whatever.  But I love the quasi-competition of it all - trying to get as close to the front of the line as possible, hurrying through the store to find your items, and rushing to get to the check-out before the line gets too big.  I also like to people-watch on Black Friday - it's amazing to hear things that people say or to see how they act (telling someone that they saw something on the other side of the store just to throw them off, tossing carts in the way of people coming in to slow them down, etc.).

Anyway, Aaron and I left the house around 10pm on Thanksgiving Day.  We went to Kmart first because they had an ugly Christmas sweater that I wanted to get for an Ugly Sweater party that we are invited to...  (Kmart didn't intend it for an ugly sweater party but it certainly qualified!)  We also found some awesome Christmas slippers for the party!  After Kmart, we headed to a shopping complex that housed several stores including Target, Old Navy, and Kohl's.

When we got to the shopping center, we got in line at Kohl's.  Aaron was cold and I wanted some Starbucks so he went into Target (which has a Starbucks inside) to get some drinks.  It took him almost 45 minutes to get through the line - I was beginning to think that he wouldn't get back before the doors to Kohl's opened at midnight!  Anyway, he made it back with a few minutes to spare and then I sent him back to hang out in Target since I was going to be looking at stuff for him in Kohl's. 

The doors were finally opened and the line surged forward.  I hurried through the store, grabbing my purchases!  (Of course, I'm not going to mention anything I got Aaron since he will see that so you can use your imagination as to whether I got him anything in Kohl's and, if so, what it might be...)  I found a ladybug hooded towel for my niece and checked for a Minnie toy (which they didn't have), slippers for me (well, for Aaron to give me for Christmas), and a chenille blanket for our house.  (I got a green one because I thought it might match and they didn't have many but, after seeing it next to the couch, I've decided to go back and get the cream colored blanket.)  Anyway, I was quick and darted in and out through the racks (the aisles get too clogged so you can move faster in the racks).  I got up to the registers and there was not even a line yet!  I checked out and was leaving while the end of the line was straggling in...  Anyway, here are some are my deals:

Jumping Bean Lovebug Bath Wrap (link to Kohls.com page here): originally $29.99, I paid $7.99

 

SO Plush Clog Slippers in Green (link to Kohls.com page here): originally $24.00, I paid $6.99

SONOMA life + style Chenille Throw: originally $49.99, I paid $19.99

I would have left out this next part, but Aaron already saw an Old Navy bag in the truck, so I might as well mention this...  Anyway, so after I left Kohl's, I realized that I had time to run into Old Navy!  Keep in mind, I was fast at Kohl's so I got into Old Navy at about 12:10am - the line was already to the back of the store!  The line weaved through the center aisle, in and out of the racks there, and made it really difficult to get into the "sections" where most of the clothes was...  It was a royal mess, but I decided to grab a few things and hop in line.  This time I waited about 45 minutes to check out...  Just as I got out of there, I was headed to the car to drop off my bags when I saw Aaron walking toward me - he had come looking for me!  Good timing!  At that point, we headed to the car and went back to the house to go to bed for a few hours...

We set an alarm for 4am; I really didn't want to get up at that point, but I dragged myself out of bed and off we went.  We stopped at Bon-Ton because they had a pair of boots for sale that I really wanted; we also had "$10 off a $10 purchase" coupons (two of them).  I've had experience with these coupons before and know they are tough to use, but I was determined...  You can't use the coupons on DoorBusters, "Special Offers", yellow dot clearance, or a variety of other things; the way they get you is to make darn near everything in the store fit one of those categories.  However, I found some baby clothes for my niece that were on regular clearance (not yellow dot clearance) so we got her some really cute pink Osh-kosh overalls and a cute outfit (purple shirt with an elephant and matching pants) for about $8 (combined).

Next up was the real reason we got up: Lowe's!  I'm sure I've mentioned that the washer and dryer that came with the house are pretty terrible (the washer is tiny - a sheet set fills it up - and the dryer takes forever for a load).  I scoured the Black Friday ads to look for a good washer/dryer set.  We found the winner at Lowe's - it was a Samsung front loading, high efficiency set that just happened to come in a blue color that looked like it would match the blue trim throughout the house.  The set was on sale for $1198 (so $599 a piece) which was a savings of $600 (or $300 saved per piece).  We also happened to have a 10% off everything coupon from Lowe's from our postal service change-of-address coupon packet!  We made a giant list of everything we could think of to buy and set out to get a bunch of stuff so that we would really get a good value out of that 10% off coupon.

We got to Lowe's around 4:50am and it was scheduled to open at 5am.  Once we got in the doors, I sent Aaron straight back to the appliances area while I got a cart (there was a jam-up in the carts area because it was cramped and you couldn't move, much less turn a cart the right way).  The ad stated that there would be a minimum of 5 sets in store so we wanted to make sure we got one!  Anyway, Aaron ended up being the second person assisted in the appliances department and we had secured our new washer/dryer set!  At that point, we leisurely made our way around the store for the rest of our purchases which included a new ladder, blinds for the two bedrooms, a new toilet seat for the 1st floor bathroom, new hardware for the 2nd floor bathroom (towel ring, toilet paper holder, and robe hooks for our towels), paint for the trim in the bedrooms, new vent covers (ones that actually close so we can control air flow), and some other stuff.  Our total ended up being just shy of $1,500 which is $300 less than we should have paid for the washer and dryer!  Somewhat more impressively, we managed to get it all into Aaron's tiny car (Hyundai Accent) - including the ladder!

With our trip to Lowe's a giant success, we headed home and went back to bed for a bit...  Lowe's was even delivering the washer and dryer for free and they came on Sunday morning to deliver and set them up.  I was really impressed with the delivery service because they actually came on time (they came at 9:30am and they had given us the window of 9-11am), they tested the washer (made sure it didn't leak, wobble, or vibrate), and they showed us how to work everything.  When all was said and done, I was pleased with our Black Friday purchases and had some fun to boot!

Exploing the Neighborhood: Middlesex Diner

As I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, Aaron and I grabbed some breakfast on Thanksgiving morning...  I knew of a local spot that is supposed to have good breakfast, but when we called, no one answered.  We found out that Cracker Barrel was open all day, but I'm not a Cracker Barrel fan...  So I used Yelp to check for local diners, figuring they would be open (I mean, when isn't a diner open?).  Anyway, we found that Middlesex Diner had pretty good ratings, wasn't too far away, and was open (we called to be sure). 

We arrived around 9am and were seated immediately.  Our waitress came right over to get our drink orders; she was quite peppy but a little odd (not in a bad way, just in "huh? what was that?" kind-of-way).  I ordered coffee and Aaron got a lemonade.  My coffee was a regular ol' cup of joe - nothing special but nothing wrong with it, which is exactly what I expect from diner coffee. 

Because it was Thanksgiving, they also had some related specials... I checked these out and was thinking about some of them at first, but I really wanted something with eggs in it to keep me full until our turkey dinner (we were eating breakfast just after 9am and weren't eating turkey until around 3pm). Anyway, I need to mention the Thanksgiving specials because they did sound tempting! They had two baked oatmeal specials: apple pie and pumpkin pecan. They had stuffed french toast as another special, along with two delicious-sounding pancake specials: pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin roll pancakes! (I'm not sure makes them pumpkin roll pancakes but I'm guessing it was either pancakes stacked with the cream cheese mixture in between or pancakes rolled with the cream cheese mixture inside.) I didn't get any of the specials, but I seriously considered it...

So I scoped out the regular menu and was debated between several options.  They had S.O.S. (also known as creamed chipped beef over toast) which I love.  They also had Eggs Benedict which is one of my favorite breakfast foods...  I was also drawn to a scramble (I forget what they called it) but decided it was a little much since it had four eggs in it; it was four eggs, ham, green peppers, onion, American cheese, and hash browns all scrambled together.  I ended up getting something similar - it was called the Hungry Man Omelet.  The Hungry Man Omelet was a three-egg omelet that had ham, onion, green peppers, tomato, mushrooms, and cheese in it; it also came with a side of hash browns and toast.  Aaron got his usual diner breakfast - 2 eggs (scrambled),toast, bacon, and hash browns.

The decor was pretty typical for a diner, lots of booths!  There was a counter where you can sit and you can see into the kitchen...  Nothing unusual there, but it was pretty large for a diner, which must be nice when they are a bit busier.

Let's start with Aaron's meal...  Aaron said that his meal was fine; he didn't care much for the hash browns because they weren't very crispy and the spots that were crispy were actually slightly burnt.  It looked to me like he had a decent amount of bacon which is good because some places skimp on the breakfast meats... 

Now for my food!  My hash browns weren't as bad as Aaron's; that said, I had some over-done potatoes left on my plate at the end of the meal.  My omelet, however, was delicious!  It was cooked perfectly and wonderfully full of all the goodies (lots of ham and veggies!); I hate when restaurants barely put anything in the omelet...  Anyway, the onions and green peppers were slightly sauteed but still had enough "crunch" to add some texture; the tomatoes were cooked just right so that they didn't turn to mush.  All-in-all, I would order this again and again!

Project Balcony: Step 4

This past weekend we finally got our balcony finished!  Step 4 was not actually anything we were doing...  It was the contractor, Russ, actually putting up the new balcony.

Let's start with some lovely "before" shots...  Note that the boards were painted before and we went with stained boards for the new balcony.  Also, its hard to see, but you might remember that the ends of the boards are rotted which is why we are replacing the balcony...

The work started on Tuesday morning (Nov. 20th).  Russ was supposed to come in the morning, but I left for school around 8:30am and he wasn't there yet.  However, one of his workers was there and had gotten started.  By the time I returned around 1pm, Russ had left already; again, his worker was still there.  The worker stayed for a while and was still working when I left for class around 3pm.  However, when I got home at night, I noticed that not much more had been completed as compared to when I had left...  (Mainly, the yard was cleaned up and the trash had all been collected.)  The pictures below show how things looked when I left around 3pm - as I noted, it looked the same when I got home at night but the trash (see the picture on the right!) was cleaned up.  You can see all the old boards had been removed and the new boards added are in the bottom of the frame.

The next morning, the same worker showed up around 9am and Russ arrived a little bit later.  The two worked until about 3pm (the picture to the right is a shot of them working).  They put a bunch of boards on and trimmed the ends of the boards that were in place - they had done a rough cut before installing them but did a final cut once the boards were up to get a nice straight edge on the end.

Anyway, we were originally told that it would be a two-day job, but Russ told us that he would need to come back to finish up on either Friday or Saturday...  Then he asked for partial payment.  Aaron wasn't as bothered by this as I was - I thought it was a little ballsy to quit working early (while saying there was just a bit more work to be done) and then ask for some money.  I didn't like paying until the job was done, but Aaron didn't want to tick off the contractor... (which isn't a bad point but I wonder whether not paying him until he finished would encourage him to get it done.)



Below are the pictures of the balcony at the end of the second day of work.  You can see that almost all the boards are down - there was just a small space at the end that needed filled in.  You can also see that most of the boards had their final edge cut complete.  Obviously, the remaining work was finishing the last boards, finishing the final cut, and putting up the rest of the railing.  (I included the photo on the right to show off the awesome wood grain and how nice the stained boards look, especially compared to the painted boards.)

 Russ didn't show up on Friday but he was there on Saturday.  He came just before 8am and got to work.  He finished with the balcony and he he worked on the balcony door for us; this wasn't originally planned for him to do but he was going to finish early (as compared to what he quoted us for labor hours), so he suggested fixing the door.  The carpet in the master bedroom is a high pile and the balcony door (which is in the master bedroom) was very difficult to open and close.  Russ raised the threshold up by about 1/2 inch and then used a circular saw to remove the same amount from the bottom of the door.  He finished everything up around mid-afternoon.

Before I show you the "after" photos - I wanted to mention something...  When Aaron went to pick up the marine sealant from Russ's house, he found out that Russ had a rottweiler puppy.  On "Day 1" of the work, I didn't see a dog but I found a large pile of... well... poop in the yard - too big to belong to our dogs.  So I suspected Russ had his dog with him, but I never saw it.  I thought it was a little odd, but oh well.  On "Day 2" of the work, I was coming down the stairs and caught a glimpse of motion on the side patio.  I moved the curtain aside and look what I saw....

Russ had brought his dog, Star, with him.  I missed out the first day, but went out to meet her on the second day.  She was very nice and so friendly!  She was a bit hyper though and would jump up - especially at Aaron...  We eventually let our pups out to meet her since Russ said she would be fine with them.  Bleeker barked his head off but calmed down then.  He then wanted to play which she was game for; however, her "playing" meant her paws moving around a lot with her jumping and all.  Poor Bleek got scared of her massive paws (I mean, they are huge compared to him!) and started getting defensive.  I was worried he might try to bite her or something, so we picked him up and ended that interaction.  Bella was happy to sniff her at first but when Star started moving too much, Bella was ready to be picked up...  Anyway, I love dogs so I had fun meeting Star.  On the other hand though, some people aren't dog folks (silly people!) or might have some other reason why they don't want a dog in their yard (for example, the piles of poop or because they have a dog that will be driven crazy or because they won't be able to let their own dog out).

Anyway, as I mentioned, the balcony was finished on Saturday and its now time to show off the finished product....

(Just ignore the green Frogtape on the edge - Aaron was painting the ends of the boards to seal them so the water can't get in and rot them out again!)